The plan to change its policy is due to ballooning costs, according to the officials, who declined to be named as a formal decision has not yet been made.
The acquisition of the
At a time of increasing assertiveness by
With the likely policy change, the government will also consider reducing from 70 the number of the ASDF's fleet of F-15 aircraft it is planning to upgrade, according to the officials.
The ASDF has about 200 F-15s and the LRASM is one of the two
The other is
By forgoing the acquisition, the government has estimated it will save tens of billions of yen. In the fiscal 2021 budget, the government did not include spending on upgrading the fighter jets, believing it necessary to prioritize negotiations with the
For the upgrade to enable the fighters to carry the LRASM, the initial cost presented by the
==Kyodo
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